Response to “Rodgers out – sign Tim Rattay”

I too am aware of the championing of Tim Rattay over at cheeseheadtv. And I’ll say, I’ve been in line with signing him (or another veteran QB) for a while now myself. We debated the idea of picking up a veteran QB ferociously before the season began here on Packergeeks. While my initial post lobbied for the Pack to consider Culpepper, my larger argument was just getting a veteran QB. Counter arguments said that any old vet won’t be any better than the back-ups we presently have. I still disagree with this. Having some NFL experience is critical. The NFL game for a rookie QB in his first few games looks and feels like you at the end of an all night party in college moments before the spins and just after you went sliding down the big hill on campus using cafeteria trays…just because. At the very very least, having a veteran back-up could be helpful to Flynn if he did have to play – for mentoring.

Yesterday on NBC, Chris Collinsworth, someone who knows his stuff, said that the biggest mistake the Packers made before the season was going with 2 rookie back-up QBs. He said that if you already have a good team surrounding even a mediocre veteran QB, you have a better chance of success than if you try to bring along a rookie QB. He then went on to declare that if Flynn or Brohm has to be the guy for any extended period of time, “the Packers have no chance”.

One other option the Pack might consider is what Carolina resorted to before the season: trading for a quality back-up (they traded for Josh McCown). There are some good ones out there who at least have some game experience.

(One thing Steve and I will admit though at this point, is that Flynn didn’t really have much of a chance to show anything yesterday. Still, I’d be more comfortable if TT signed someone who at least has experience).

10 Responses to “Response to “Rodgers out – sign Tim Rattay””

Let’s face facts. The Packers biggest problems start with the O Line and D Line. The time to sign a backup was was before the season started. What is available now is available for a reason.

Flynn may be a good quarterback some day, but there is a reason he was drafted in the seventh round. He is now, and will be for another year , at least, a work in progress. Likewise, Brohm fell to the second round for a reason. Spread QB’s have a hard time adjusting to the NFL. He too, could be a good QB someday. Keeping two development projects with a starting QB with a history of injury in limited appearences was a gamble and the Packers lost.

As fans, we have to hope Rodgers will be back in time for Seattle. The way things look now they could easily be 2-5 going into the break. Priority #1 fix that pathetic O Line. Priority #2 fix the pathetic D-Line. Jenkins could be gone for the year. Priority #3 sign a veteran QB and then pick either Brohm or Flynn as the development project. Cut whoever loses that selection and hope they clear waivers and put them on the training squad. Priorty #4 get a damn punter. Prioity #5 Consider moving AJ to the MLB position. I DVR’d yesterday’s game and after reviewing it Barnett was either on his azz or missing taclkes near the line. He did make a few 10 yards down field. It’s time for that blowhard party guy to start thinking about football again. He showed he could play well lact year. So it’s time MM kick him in the butt and wakes him up.

If Rodgers misses time isn’t the season over anyways? Can we really expect a vet to come in at this point in the season and lead this team to the playoffs? One, the availible vets are just not that good. Two, it will take him at least a month to learn the offense, teamates, etc… They should have added a vet this summer but adding one right now may not be so helpful unless Rodgers is going to miss most of the season and you have a free roster spot. Too bad Favre didn’t stay on his tractor. He might have got a call from Thompson needing a hero to come in and save the season.

Ron – agreed, especially re the O-Line. Horrendous play this year. It’s kind of hard to tell if Grant is off a bit and not hitting the right holes or if there just are no holes. I strongly suspect the latter. But, for the last 2 weeks anyway, the pass protection has been horrible. Rodgers has been running for his life. I really worry that Clifton may be slipping and slipping fast.

Dave – agreed that if Rodgers is out, we’re in a bad way. But I do think that a veteran in particular would be able to learn the system, or enough of it, in a relatively short amount of time to at least give us a fighting chance. I still think Flynn isn’t horrible, but I just think a veteran, even a mediocre one, would do better in this situation. Funny thought re Favre – I do wonder what would have happened if he’d retired.

Ron – great comments and I agree with everything but #3. What’s the point? It took Favre, if you’re being generous, eight or nine games to get a handle on McCarthy’s system. And he’s Brett Fave. Signing Rattay or any other QB now is a pointless exercise. Better to let Flynn take his lumps and learn on the job.

And I agree about kicking Barnett in the but – trouble is, I think Hawk may be out for awhile as well…

Problem: The Blitz. Packers cannot seem to pick up the blitz, nor are they blitzing on defence nearly enough. While their front four will create pressure at times, it is not enough, especially with the injuries we have in our secondary.
Blitz pick-up has been terrible, with blitzers coming in untouched – this is unacceptable.

Aaron – I agree that learning MM’s full system takes a while to learn – I don’t think Rodgers even knows it all yet. But I don’t think that makes seeking out a veteran “pointless”. Favre picked up the Jets system it seems in relatively short order. Same with Pennington in Miami. I’m sure they both have plenty more of the systems to learn, but they’ve figured out how to function somewhat effectively within their respective systems already. Sure, both are very good QBs, but other QBs like Rattay have been around and could probably figure out how to manage this offense. A veteran QB just has a better sense of the game and my guess is that a veteran would function more effectively in the offense than either of our existing rookies. Maybe in the meantime, while the veteran learns the system, we could let Flynn give it a go and see how it works out. But having someone with NFL experience back there to fall back on makes sense. After all, we still have at least 13+ weeks left in the season.

Aaron please don’t tell me AJ’s out too. Yeah you’re right that it may be late now, but it should have been done before the season. Bad judgement on MM and TT. Maybe TT forced MM into the decision, but the team on the field is MM’s resposibility. He has some gapping holes there and they need plugging. I don’t expect miracles but I do expect progress.

If this season collapses be prepared for Favre’s Army to surface and generate enough noise to force that pathetic Board to acutually deal with a problem. Right now it’s nothing but a rubber stamp. If it was an operating organization it would have stepped in to the Favre debate and dealt with the problem. MM should never have been the focal point of the Favre controversy. He should have been working with the team and making personnel demands of TT.

PS — Time to fire the trainer and excercise coordinators. I hear that a giant Red Cross is being painted on the middle of the field.

MSNBC is reporting that Aaron Rodgers will play on Sunday against the Falcons. That is, if he looks okay in practice on Wednesday. They said Rodgers has a “sprained” shoulder. If Rodgers can’t start on Sunday, Flynn would start. I agree with the other posts in that the O-line is awful and poor Aaron is running for his life.